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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. When the narrator lists the kinds of inappropriate relationships that May encourages, one of the items in the list is "old chaps" who dress up and "parade in front of the Normal School" (332). Who are these old men trying to impress with their fancy clothing?
(a) Young women training to become school teachers.
(b) Female college professors.
(c) Lower-class college-aged women.
(d) Schoolgirls.

2. What is implied by the number of days for which Miss Coulson orders extra ice?
(a) She knows that after five days Mr. Coulson will be too irritated to talk to Mrs. Widdup at all.
(b) She thinks that she will need five days to get to know the iceman better.
(c) She wants the deliveries to last until Mrs. Widdup leaves for vacation.
(d) She thinks that the flowers will be done blooming in five days.

3. When Mr. Coulson asks for his "aconite," what is he asking for (333)?
(a) An herbal medicine used to treat pain and inflammation.
(b) A wooden cane with a carved top.
(c) A hot breakfast cereal, like porridge or gruel.
(d) A religious text that provides commentary on the Bible.

4. When Miss Coulson stands thinking at the window, to what insects does she mentally compare Mr. Coulson and Mrs. Widdup?
(a) Cockroaches.
(b) Mayflies.
(c) Mosquitoes.
(d) Fleas.

5. What is the implication of the passage "She blushed. Oh, yes, it can be done. Just hold your breath and compress the diaphragm" (333)?
(a) Most people blush on purpose.
(b) Mrs. Widdup may be faking her reaction to Mr. Coulson.
(c) Blushing happens when the diaphragm is contracted too forcefully.
(d) In her excitement, Mrs. Widdup can barely breathe.

Short Answer Questions

1. What kind of clam is a "chowder-doomed clam" (332)?

2. How old is Mrs. Widdup?

3. On page 334, the narrator refers to the "panoply" of Miss Coulson's "unthrilled bosom." What is the meaning of "panoply" in this context?

4. Which of the following literary techniques is used in the title "The Marry Month of May"?

5. What claim is the narrator making by calling humans "lineal scions of the pansy" (332)?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the rhetorical purpose of the allusions to Puck and Circe?

2. What happens when Mrs. Widdup makes an excuse to go into Mr. Coulson's room to speak with him after the ice is delivered?

3. What happens overnight that changes Mrs. Widdup and Mr. Coulson's fate?

4. When rhetorical purposes are served by the passage where the narrator says that the scent of flowers was carried in through the window and "fought" with the scent of Mr. Coulson's gout medicine?

5. What is Miss Coulson's plan to head off her father's budding romance?

6. In the passage where Miss Coulson stares out the window, the reader is told "The chirp of the sparrows gave her a pain. She mocked at May" (334). To what earlier passage is this a reference, and what is the significance of the reference?

7. How does O. Henry use verbal misunderstandings to characterize Mrs. Widdup when she first appears in Mr. Coulson's room?

8. How do words like "yaller" and "lawsy" in Mrs. Widdup's dialogue characterize her?

9. Explain the titular allusion and the allusion to "the poet" in the first sentence of the story.

10. What is the significance of the sound of the overturned chair after Mr. Coulson confesses his feelings to Mrs. Widdup?

(see the answer keys)

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